Chemical reactions efficiency

There are two fundamental conditions for life. First, the living entity must be able to self-replicate (a topic considered in Part III) second, the organism must be able to catalyze chemical reactions efficiently and selectively. The central importance of catalysis may surprise some beginning students of biochemistry, but it is easy to demonstrate. As described in Chapter 1, living systems make use of energy from the environment. Many of us, for example, consume substantial amounts of sucrose—common table sugar—as a kind of fuel, whether in the form of sweetened foods and drinks or as sugar itself. The conversion of sucrose to C02 and... 

E energy enhancement factor in chemisorption eq. (14.50) activation energy in chemical reactions efficiency factor of the absorption process (Section 10.3.2)... 

Some enzymes discriminate between potential substrates by binding them Wxth different affinities. Others may bind many potential substrates but promote chemical reactions efficiently only on specific molecules. Restriction endonucleases such as EcoRV endonuclease employ... 

MSRs are characterized by multifunctionality—they combine chemical reaction, efficient heat exchange, and phase separation—and by characteristic dimensions in the submillimeter range. MSRs are mainly fabricated as plates with parallel channels that have hydraulic diameters dh between 10 and several hundred micrometers. The plates can, for instance, be assembled as shown in Figure 1. 

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